How do i take better pics without a flash?

I have seen so many photos online and in photo albums that i would like to emulate, however when i try this, I either have a grainy picture without using flash, or an overexposed photo even with the smallest amount of flash. (the flash mark on the wall is also annoying) - when i am using my digital camera, the image i see on the screen will be so beautiful but when i snap it and the flash goes off, i lose the detail and lighting that the naked eye can see but i can't seem to capture it with my camera unless i dont use a flash, then its grainy - help?

I HAVE A SONY DSC F-717

Check your settings, and go to a longer exposure. You will need a tripod to accomplish this. What you are trying to do is called available light photography.
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we need to know what kind of camera
give more details

If you have a regular point and shoot digital camera, check whether there is a manual setting that will allow you to control aperture and shutter speed most of these cameras have a max aperture of F2.8. If you have a DSLR you should get a fast aperture lens (F2.8 or larger), these options will both allow you to let the maximum amount of light into the camera and minimize the need for a flash.

The other thing you need to do is turn up the ISO setting on your camera. Go into the menu and look for the ISO and turn it up as high as it will go. This will allow the camera to get a better exposure with less light. It's not going to fix your problem entirely but it will make it better, it's also going to increase the chance you will have noise in the image so be prepared for that.

F-stop

Seeing your camera model, I looked it up and it does have a full manual mode. I'm sure you get to it by selecting an "M" setting on the control dial, you press down on the jog dial (the little black wheel in front of the shutter button) to switch between shutter and aperture adjustments, then you turn the jog dial to make the adjustments.

Also your camera has an ISO setting of up to 800, I'd try setting it to 800 and see if the pictures look good. You max aperture appears to be F2.0-2.4 (the smaller the number the bigger the aperture) and that's remarkably large. The max aperture will depend on how far you are zoomed in, but even at F2.4 that's very good. As long as you can access the manual settings you should be able to improve the pictures without using flash, just know that it will take practice to get the exposure right; you are deciding what settings to use rather than letting your camera do it for you. That's a good thing since you will learn something about photography, and your camera doesn't seem to be up to the job!

Go outdoors.. Outdoor have more ambient light than indoor except if it is a studio. Use iso 100-200 for your photos not to be grainy..